SBenegaL

Category: Approach

  • The First Mile – Scott D. Anthony

    Starting a new venture always feels exciting, but the real test happens in what Scott D. Anthony calls “the first mile”—that leap from idea to reality. Reading this book was especially useful for students and aspiring entrepreneurs, since the first mile is where mistakes (and big learning) often happen.

    What Makes the First Mile So Important?

    Anthony shows that ideas aren’t the problem—it’s the process that trips most people up. The first mile is where hopes are high but risks are hidden, and getting through it needs more than optimism—it needs a plan and discipline.

    The DEFT Framework (Made Simple)

    The book’s DEFT approach is a handy guide to taking an idea and nurturing it safely:

    • Document: Write out the details—what makes your idea unique and what needs to go right.
    • Evaluate: Question your assumptions and get real about what’s uncertain.
    • Focus: Prioritize the biggest risks and pick the few issues that really matter.
    • Test: Use small, fast experiments to turn guesses into facts before investing too much.

    The Four First Mile Challenges

    Anthony warns that there are four classic mistakes innovators make in the early stage, and he gives advice on how to dodge each one:

    1. Making a Wrong Turn
      This challenge is about heading down the wrong path—maybe due to weak research or wishful thinking. To avoid this, founders should run tests early and use honest feedback to adjust their direction. Quick experiments save time and prevent costly detours .
    2. Running Out of Fuel
      This means burning through resources (like cash, energy, or team focus) before getting traction. Anthony urges entrepreneurs to be disciplined: spend only on clear proof points and review progress regularly so you don’t run dry before reaching your first real wins.
    3. Picking the Wrong Driver
      Having the wrong people in charge—or a mismatched leadership team—can make a strong idea stumble. It’s critical to match the project’s needs with the team’s strengths, and, if necessary, adjust roles or bring in new talent as the project evolves.
    4. Premature Scaling
      Trying to grow too soon, before validating key assumptions, is deadly. Anthony explains that scaling should only happen when the essentials (like product fit, market demand, and a repeatable process) are in place. Scale comes after proof, not before.

    Some Practical Tips

    • Use maps and scorecards to rank risks and decide what to tackle next.
    • Try different types of experiments (like quick interviews or small pilots) so mistakes are cheap and lessons are quick.
    • Keep learning as your core metric—progress isn’t just sales, but how much uncertainty you’ve reduced each week.

    Why This Matters for Students and New Founders

    This book is not full of fancy jargon but gives step-by-step ways to turn confusion and risk into clarity. If you read just one chapter—or remember a single habit—make it about picking one critical risk at a time and testing it quickly. That’s how you’ll make every mile count.

    If you want the journey through your first mile to be smoother, Anthony’s honest advice (and the DEFT method) is a good starting point. It’ll help you travel farther without falling into these common traps. It is a good complement to the Lean Startup appraoch.

  • Managerial implications of the discussion on work design

    In the last byte, we looked at counter-role behavior. In today’s byte we look at the managerial implications in the changing nature of work.

    In addition to the managerial expertise, it is important that manager have to have a wide range of nontechnical skills to be effective in their work. The following thought would be extremely important. 
    Work forms an important aspect of a healthy life – it satisfies two central needs in human nature – engaging in productive work and forming healthy relationship with others. Given that the meaning of work means different things depending on the culture; the design of jobs mus be done with a sensitivity to cultural values and beliefs.
     
    Managers would need to craft work tasks and assignments that fit the jobs to people who are doing them. There is no universally accepted way of designing work. The changing nature of work mandates that managers find new ways to define work and design jobs.
    Flexibility is crucial in job design in the modern era. Dramatic global, economic and organizational changes dictate the managers to be flexible in job/work design in organizations.
     
    Another important aspect to make note of is the role technology that has evolved since the nature of work has changed.

  • Counter Role Behavior and Task Revision

    In the last byte, we began looking at the concept of task revision. We continue the discussion in today’s byte with a short discussion on counter role behavior. 

    Counter Role Behavior often happens when the incumbent acts contrary to the expectations of the role or exhibits deviant behavior. This raises an issue if the role is correctly defined – lets take an example to understand the same.
     
    Lets take the example of a nursing supervisor who displays counter-role behavior. Imagine a scenario where the nursing supervisor decides to simply trust the nurses and not verify the medication that the in charge nurse is expected to provide and this results in a fatality!
    Clearly when a role or task is correctly and properly defined, counter-role behavior leads to poor performance if not a fatality as indicated in the above example.
     
    Task-revision is a counter-role behavior in an incorrectly specified role, and is a useful way to correct the problem in any role specification. Task revision thus is a form or role innovation that could help long-term adaptation when the current role specification is no longer applicable. 

  • Performance Consequences

    In the last byte, we looked at work design and well-being. In today’s byte, we look at task revision.

    Task revision refers to the modification of incorrectly specified roles or jobs. It assumes that the organizational roles and job expectations may be correctly or incorrectly defined. Note that the person’s behavior is a work place has very different performance consequences depending on whether the role is currently  or incorrectly defined.

    The following table summarizes the performance consequences of Role Behavior:

  • Work Design and Well-being

    In the last byte, we looked at how JDS could be used to redesign jobs. In today’s byte, we discuss about Work Design and Well-being.

    Organizations need to redesign jobs in order to increase worker control and reduce worker uncertainty, while at the same time time remembering to manage conflicts and task/job demands. 

    Following are some ways in which control in work organizations could be increased:
    1. Workers would be given the opportunity to control several aspects of the work and the work place
    2. Designing machines and tasks for optmal response times and/or ranges
    3. Implementing performance-monitoring systems as a source of relevant feedback
    To reduce uncertainty we could use the following:
    1. Providing employees with timely and complete information needed for the work
    2. Making clear and unambiguous work assignments
    3. Improving communication at shift change time
    4. Increasing employee access to information source
    Conflicts could be managed by:
    1. Participative decision making to reduce conflict
    2. Using supportive supervisory styles to resolve conflicts
    3. Having sufficient resources available to meet work demands

  • Redesigning Jobs

    In the last byte, we looked at the moderation effect in the Job Characteristic model. In today’s byte, we look at some uses of this theory in redesigning jobs.

    Job Characteristic theory added a more comprehensive perspective in the design of jobs. The JDS developed was useful in job redesign efforts through one of the fived implementation concepts:
    1. Combining tasks into larger jobs
    2. Forming natural work teams to increase task identity and task significance
    3. Establishing relationships with customers
    4. Loading jobs vertically with more responsibility
    5. Opening feedback channels for the job incumbent
    Job Characteristics Inventory (JCI) is an alternative to the Job Characteristics Model but is not as comprehensive. JCI doesnt include coritical psychological states, personal and work outcomes, or employee needs.

  • Job Characteristic Theory – 4

    In the last byte, we looked at how we could calculate MPS based on a assessment tool. In today’s byte we discuss the job characteristic theory a bit further. 

    The Job Characteristics Model includes growth need strength as moderator in the model. It is seen that people with high growth need strength respond favorably to jobs with high MPSs, and individuals with low growth need strength respond less favorably to such jobs.

    The theory suggests that core job dimensions stimulate three critical psychological states according to the relationships specified in the model. These critical psychological states are defined as follows:
    • Experienced Meaningfulness of the work: the degree to which the employee experiences the job as one that is generally meaningful, valuable, and worthwhile.
    • Experienced responsibility for work outcomes: the degree to which the employee feels personally accountable and responsibile for the results of the work he or she does.
    • Knowledge of results: the degree to which the employee knows and understands, on a continuous basis, how effectively he or she is performing the job.
    We shall continue  the discuss further in the next byte.

  • Determining Job Characteristics

    In the last byte, we defined the various core job characteristics. In today’s byte, we begin looking at the concept of Motivating Potential Scores (MPS). 

    Motivating Potential Scores (MPS) indicates a job’s potential for motivating incumbents. Hackman and his collegues built the following equation to measure MPS:

             [skill variety] + [task identity] + [task significance]
    MPS = ————————————————————- x [Autonomy] x [Feedback]
                                               3
     
    [Refer to the reference book to measure these individual components]
     
    The model includes growth need strength (refers to the desire to grow and fully develop one’s ability) as a moderator.  People with high growth need strength respond favorably to jobs with high MPSs, and those with low growth need strength respond less favorably to such jobs.
     
    We shall continue the discussion in the next byte.

  • Job Characteristics Theory 3

    In the last byte, we looked at the diagramatic representation of the Job Characterictics Model. In today’s byte, we look at some of the definitions related to the five core job characteristics:

    • Skill Variety: refers to the degree to which a job includes different activitites and involves the use of multiple skills and talkents of the employee.
    • Task Identity: refers to the degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work – that is, doing a job from beginning to end with a tangible outcome.
    • Task Significance: refers to the degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of toher people, whether in the immediate organization or in the external environment.
    • Autonomy: refers to the degree to which the job provides the employee with substantial freedom, independence, and discretion in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out.
    • Feedback from the job itself: refers to the degree to which carrying out the work activities result in the employee’s obtaining direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his or her performance.

  • Job Characteristics Theory 2

    In the last byte, we began our discussion on Job Characteristics Theory. We continue and look at the visual representation of the Job Charactertistics Model. 

    Job Characteristics Model is a framework for understanding person – job fit through the interaction of core job dimensions with critical psychological states within a person. To measure the elements of the Job Characteristic Model a survey was developed – Job Diagonostic Survey (JDS).

    Following is the model:

    We shall discuss the five core job characteristics and their definitions in the next byte.